#AFL Round 7, Swans vs North, 7:25pm at the SCG #AFLSwansNorth @sydneyswans

[aardvark]

What a waste. That was really hard to watch.

[stevoswan]

Here in Ruse Bulgaria and just saw the bad news. Should I watch the game or will it make me too depressed?

Not if you want to witness one of the worst most frustrating games ever.....and yes, you will become depressed. Move on quickly and enjoy your travels.

[Bexl]

Here in Ruse Bulgaria and just saw the bad news. Should I watch the game or will it make me too depressed?

No.

[AB Swannie]

I wonder if some fans actually hope we lose just so they can lay the boot into Longmire and McVeigh. So damn repetitive and predictable.

Unfortunately, we have good players who just didn?t play anywhere near their best tonight. Jack wore his boots on the wrong feet. On another night, he kicks three. Sinkers and McVeigh gave away two goals that they won?t give away again all season.

On the other hand, Higgins is a very underrated player for North. He and Mason Wood were the difference.

[Agent 86]

Yes it's a very corrupt league. 7 less free kicks yet again. I think the AFL wants to destroy football in Sydney. Regardless our standard is becoming worse every week. Fancy paying money to watch that? I would demand a refund. Need to drop Parker and Hewitt. Marsh and fox were also poor. Having doubts about horse' ability to Coach, Think game has gone past him. Don't expect to win a game at SCG this year.


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Interesting that 6 of our free kicks came in 1 x 2 minute phase of play. Wondering if they were trying to make the disparity look less biased?


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[Steve]

You?re right Melb_Blood! It?s a soft target and boringly repetitive.

No Buddy, no Hanners, no Reid, no Naismith, no Tippett (and he would have been expected to be available when Horse was planning for his 2018 campaign last December). No matter, just blame Horse.

How can you blame the coach for that rubbish. Why did Jack miss 3 sitters, why did Papley stuff that late one, why did Heeney miss that set shot and why did Rampe miss that one on the run, by a long way, why did Sinclair kick straight to a North player in front, why did McVeigh kick inboard to a North player and why did Mills do most of his kicks as grubbers. That woeful kick to someone in between about 10 North players in our forward line for a turnover goal. Dumb footy is not the coach's fault. Our kicking has been poor all season. We don't keep the pressure up for 4 quarters hence we always keep the opposition in the game. It's not the coach's fault. We have an underbelly of players that are not good enough and it is always left to the defence to save the game. Apart from Kennedy and Heeney our midfield is mediocre at best. We need Buddy back pronto.

The coach can only watch on as they players execute out on the field, but they are clearly accountable for the selection, development, gameplan and utilisation of the players at his disposal. The whole 'Longmire is a brilliant coach without a single flaw who we should offer a lifelong contract if he will have us' versus 'Longmire is the root of all our problems and has to go' debate is just silly. All coaches at times have flaws in either their strategies/game plans and/or how they are responding to circumstances confronting the team. You don't have to be calling for him to be sacked, or ignoring or disrespecting his past record, to question aspects of his performance.

But ultimately if we're always blaming the players, it's isn't completely out of place to at times question whether the long-term coach couldn't have deployed other options in terms of player selection, utilisation and game plan when things have ultimately fallen apart over numerous seasons for different reasons, when the coach has essentially had the same plan.

That's not to say he isn't the right person for the job, but he is accountable for what his players produce.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Longmire has developed a good game style( with a talented squad ). He has not shown at any stage he is capable of moving the chess pieces on game day.


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[dejavoodoo44]

Here in Ruse Bulgaria and just saw the bad news. Should I watch the game or will it make me too depressed?

If you're planning to convert the Bulgarians to Aussie Rules, then I'd probably choose another game. Very eccentric umpiring that favoured North. A dewy surface, that turned it into a clear sky wet weather game, in which both sides made relentless skill errors. Jason Dunstall in commentary.
But hey, if want to see another gutsy performance from Sinclair, some nice clearance work for three quarters and some classy moments from Heyward?
If you do watch it, maybe you could count how many times we actually got a holding the ball free, as opposed to how many times we were penalized for in the back. Or maybe you could try to work out what any of the frees to Brown were for?

[Danzar]

Reminded me of a lot of games I went to in the early and mid- 2000s. Ugly, frustrating with some excitement near the end when you think they might just steal it.

Just happy to draw a line under that and move on quite honestly.

We won a lot of those games.

[Hotpotato]

Didn?t enjoy being at this forgettable game which was like watching 36 seagulls fighting over one chip chucked in their midst . The game has changed for sure.

It?s umpired to a standstill .

Shorter defenders must wonder how they can compete. The tiggy touchwood to someone?s arms in a marking contest is such a Rubbish rule especially when paid so often for a minor infringement .

North were the better team on this occasion . Hate their bloody song from ?96.

[Danzar]

Longmire has developed a good game style( with a talented squad ). He has not shown at any stage he is capable of moving the chess pieces on game day.


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Moving Brown down the ground was the real winner for North. Stopped our momentum when it counted, but particularly in the second quarter. Seemed like a decision Scott made in that moment, and it kept paying dividends later.

[MattW]

Here in Ruse Bulgaria and just saw the bad news. Should I watch the game or will it make me too depressed?

Seriously. It is perfectly scripted to maximise frustration. Spare yourself. Hayward marked well forward - that's the only positive news you could take away.

[juliec]

I have been following the Swans since they were South Melbourne and I am a Premiership Club member for years, I don?t know a lot about the tactics of the game but I would like to know why when we take a mark or just receive the ball why we take so long to pass it off or kick it???????? also with that extra man we seem to always have in defence and how many times we go for the stoppage, are we one of the teams who are to blame with this whole cluster of players around the ball????????

[Swanny40519]

I was so frustrated watching that game last night. Our forward structure was terrible all night. We did not put any pressure on their defenders and just let them run the ball out so easily. Then our defence insisted on playing a couple of metres behind all night and that allowed North to dominate marking. Terrible coaching !

What has happened to Heeney's kicking ability. He butchered just about every kick he had last night.

I am really concerned boy where we are headed in 2018. We have a number of very average or below average footballers win our side - Fox, Marsh, Cunningham, Towers and then some of our more experienced players who have lost form - Smith, Papley, Heeney, Parker, Rohan, Rampe, Jack, Mills. Spo that doesn't leave a lot left to try and win games.

The reserves have not won a game and don't look like it. They can't kick straight and lack skill and the will to succeed.

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I was so frustrated watching that game last night. Our forward structure was terrible all night. We did not put any pressure on their defenders and just let them run the ball out so easily. Then our defence insisted on playing a couple of metres behind all night and that allowed North to dominate marking. Terrible coaching !

What has happened to Heeney's kicking ability. He butchered just about every kick he had last night.

I am really concerned boy where we are headed in 2018. We have a number of very average or below average footballers in our side - Fox, Marsh, Cunningham, Towers and then some of our more experienced players who have lost form - Smith, Papley, Heeney, Parker, Rohan, Rampe, Jack, Mills. So that doesn't leave a lot of good players left to try and win games.

The reserves have not won a game and don't look like it. They can't kick straight and lack skill and the will to succeed.

- - - Updated - - -

I was so frustrated watching that game last night. Our forward structure was terrible all night. We did not put any pressure on their defenders and just let them run the ball out so easily. Then our defence insisted on playing a couple of metres behind all night and that allowed North to dominate marking. Terrible coaching !

What has happened to Heeney's kicking ability. He butchered just about every kick he had last night.

I am really concerned boy where we are headed in 2018. We have a number of very average or below average footballers in our side - Fox, Marsh, Cunningham, Towers and then some of our more experienced players who have lost form - Smith, Papley, Heeney, Parker, Rohan, Rampe, Jack, Mills. So that doesn't leave a lot of good players left to try and win games.

The reserves have not won a game and don't look like it. They can't kick straight and lack skill and the will to succeed.

[Xie Shan]

Probably one of the worst games I've seen live.